


Two Newts and a Lie

by ProblemWithTrouble



Series: Pacific Rim [11]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Divorce, Happy Ending, Hermann Gottlieb is the dumbest man alive, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 13:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19174399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProblemWithTrouble/pseuds/ProblemWithTrouble
Summary: Hermann and Vanessa have been separated for years but never finalized the divorce. They also have a son named Newt that was born between Hermann and Newt's first meeting and when they started working together, and more importantly, started dating. The problem is that Newt knows none of this when Vanessa and little Newt show up at the Hong Kong Shatterdome.It all hurt so fucking bad and he felt so guilty for letting it hurt.He wasn’t the one who had married Hermann, who had a kid with Hermann. What right did he really have to Hermann? Two years of “I love you”s and sharing a room didn’t really mean anything in the face of a wedding and a kid and what was probably much better love.





	Two Newts and a Lie

The lab was quiet. Or at least it was quiet compared to most days in the lab. The music was playing quietly from Newt’s computer speakers, and the tapping of Hermann’s chalk was slow going today. Newt was stuck working on a report so instead of the squelching and clunking that came with dissections there was just the quiet and constant tapping of keys. 

It was almost lunch time and Newt was waiting for Hermann to announce that he was at a good stopping point and they could go. Hermann had specifically requested that they eat lunch together, which was odd since they ate almost every meal together. They had spent most of their time together even before they had started their relationship in full. It was just a fact that they worked together, ate together, and slept together. 

Newt’s cell went off next to him and he paused to look at the text. It was from Tendo, which was a little concerning because the man did not text when he worked. He was a single focus man who didn’t put up with Newt interrupting his work with memes. _911\. We need to have lunch now. Meet me outside the LOC._

Newt frowned down at his phone before he stood up and cracked his back. “Hey, Herm.”

“Just a moment, Newton.” He finished writing a sigma sign and twisted all the way around on his ladder to look at Newt. 

“Something’s going on with Tendo. Raincheck on lunch?”

Newt fully expected Hermann to agree and then turn back to his equations, but he hesitated. His face did the weird contorting thing that he did when he wasn’t sure what to say. “Are you quite sure it can’t wait?” 

“Tendo says it’s an emergency and you know him. He barely thinks a category two is an emergency,” Newt said, shrugging. “I know you asked to have lunch specifically today.”

Hermann cut him off with a wave of his hand and shaking his head. “It’s fine, darling. We can go out to dinner tonight instead?”

“Wouldn’t miss it. I’ll see you later,” Newt said, pulling on his jacket from the back of his chair. “Love you.”

“I love you too,” Hermann said with a smile that Newt didn’t see turn to a frown behind him.

* * *

Newt took the long way around to the LOCCENT to grab his wallet from his room and by the time he got there Tendo was walking down the opposite hall towards the LOCCENT doors. “Dude, when you said to meet you here, I figured you were already here.” 

“I needed to take care of something. Let me grab my jacket. We should go out.”

“The great Tendo Choi wants to go off base for lunch?” 

“Trust me, we both need to be out of here,” Tendo said with a grimace. He disappeared into the room and Newt waited outside the open double doors. 

Tendo came back out and led them out of the building, dodging every one of Newt’s questions about what had happened. He didn’t want to talk about it in the Shatterdome, he’d tell Newt over lunch. Eventually Newt gave up trying to get anything out of him and just started talking about his new theory on a pattern between kaiju designs. Tendo nodded along but didn’t seem interested as they rode in the cab to the restaurant. 

It wasn’t the one closest to the ‘dome that most people went to if they decided to leave for food. Still, it wasn’t too far into the city and they could probably make it back before anyone missed them too terribly. 

As they were seated in the small American style diner Tendo looked like he was going to be sick or start yelling. “Dude, what’s going on?” Newt asked. 

“Give me your phone.”

“What?”

Tendo put his hand out. “Trust me, brother.”

Newt handed over his phone and missed the notification of a text from Hermann had come in. Tendo stuffed it in his pocket, ordered them both beers and burgers from the nice waitress that just took their order left. 

“You’re starting to freak me out, dude. Are they shutting down the domes? Did you get fired?”

Tendo’s face twisted into confusion. “No.” Tendo took another deep breath and frowned hard. “Hermann’s wife and kid are in town.”

For a second all sound stopped existing for Newt as he took that in. His whole brain came to a screeching stop and he felt his stomach twist. It was like he had been on a merry-go-round that someone had hooked up to a motorcycle wheel and spun him around for an hour. His soul might have left this plane of existence. “My Hermann? His what?” He couldn’t breathe either and tears were springing to his eyes. 

“I met her and took her down to the lab. That’s where I was when you were on your way up.” Tendo was watching him carefully and Newt suddenly understood why he had taken his phone and ordered before he had told Newt because Newt wanted to call him; to yell and scream and cry. He wanted to storm back to the ‘dome and demand an explanation which in the end would only hurt him and the kid. Maybe the wife. Not Hermann, though. Hermann had always known he was married. 

“Kid?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, brother. I didn’t want you to find out with them just walking in,” Tendo said. The waitress brought over their beers and Tendo thanked her for both of them. Newt’s brain was still offline. 

It wasn’t even spinning the way that unexpected information usually sent him. It was just nothing. He felt sick and overwhelmed and if he blinked the tears would start and never stop. “It’s not your fault.” He felt his jaw working and his throat trying to make more words but there was nothing there. “I’m the piece on the side.”

Tendo looked disappointed in that line of reasoning but there wasn’t anything he could say to counter it because Hermann was married. With a kid. He had a whole fucking family that Newt – his supposed best friend for a decade and boyfriend for two years – had never known about. Newt felt like he was dying. At least it wouldn’t hurt if he was dead. 

He didn’t know how much longer they sat in silence but eventually the waitress brought their food and Tendo started to pick at his fries. “You have to eat, my man.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You gotta eat, brother. Hunger strike ain’t gonna fix this.”

Newt put a fry in his mouth, it tasted like wet cardboard with a texture of sawdust. Which he knew wasn’t right because he’d been there more than a dozen times and they had fucking amazing fries. “Is she nice?” 

Tendo was quiet for a long time before he nodded. “Yeah. She seemed nice.”

Newt nodded once. “The kid? How old?”

“About six or seven maybe.”

Newt nodded again. 

“I told Alison. She says you can stay with us. We still have that camp bed from when her brother came to visit. If you want.” Tendo took a bite of his burger as he waited for the information to sink in. 

“Fuck, we _live_ together.” 

Tendo nodded and looked as sympathetic as one can when you’d taken too big of a bite of a burger.

“He told me he loved me before I left for lunch.”

“I’m sorry, brother.”

“Well you’re not fucking me while having a secret wife so I’m not too mad at you,” Newt said. He thought about the fact that he probably just missed them in the hall, if he hadn’t gone to his room or if he had decided to kiss Hermann goodbye instead of just leaving. “That would have sucked.”

Newt picked at his food for a while and drank his beer that didn’t give him a buzz at all because all beer sucked during the apocalypse and Newt wasn’t even sure if it had any actual alcohol in it. 

Tendo got the rest of his food put in a to-go bag and called a cab for them to take them back to the ‘dome. As they pulled up Newt looked at Tendo. “Can I really stay with you guys?”

“Of course. Do you want to go get some clothes?”

“Yeah. Also, my phone.” 

Tendo handed it back to Newt with a smile. Newt looked down as they walked down the halls back to Newt and Hermann’s room. There were three texts from Hermann. _Allow me to explain._

_Please it’s not as simple as it looks._

_Darling, please._

Tears started to collect again, and he pressed them down as he stuffed his phone deep back into his pocket. 

Newt unlocked the door to his room and made a beeline for the closet to find a backpack and started stuffing all his clothes into it and grabbing his toothbrush, phone charger, and tablet on the way out the door. They went down two more hallways to Tendo and Alison’s room where the camp bed had already been set up with a Trespasser stuffed animal on the pillow. “That was supposed to be for your birthday. Apparently, Alison decided now was a better time.”

“I expect another one for my birthday,” Newt said and tried not to think about how broken his voice sounded. 

“Will do. I’ve gotta head back to the LOCCENT. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Thanks, dude. Really.” 

Tendo wrapped him in a quick hug that Newt wanted to live in because it made things hurt a little less. “Of course, brother.”

Tendo let him go and left Newt alone in a room with adorable wedding pictures all over the walls and two beds stuffed into the cramped space. Newt sat down on the edge of the camp bed and took the soft Trespasser into his arms and couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. It all hurt so fucking bad and he felt so guilty for letting it hurt. 

He wasn’t the one who had married Hermann, who had a kid with Hermann. What right did he really have to Hermann? Two years of “I love you”s and sharing a room didn’t really mean anything in the face of a wedding and a kid and what was probably much better love. 

Newt had never really bought into the lie by omission business before, but he understood with sudden clarity that there were some questions that were too ridiculous to think of, let alone ask. Was he supposed to have asked Hermann if he had a wife? Was he supposed to ask if Hermann had a whole family that he had never told Newt about? Not when they were writing letters or during the year before they started dating? What was he supposed to have done? What questions was he supposed to ask? Why did Newt have to love him so damn much? Why did Hermann have to let him? Why couldn’t he stop crying? His marriage wasn’t falling apart. Just his heart.

After a while Newt went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face and hoped that his glasses helped to obscure the fact that his eyes were red and swollen. He took another deep breath before he left the bunk and tried to focus on the report he needed to finish for Pentecost. Hopefully Hermann would be too busy with his wife to be in the lab. 

The lab was silent when he walked in, but Hermann was there. The scuff of Newt’s boots caught his attention and Hermann’s head snapped up from the computer screen. “Newton, please allow me to explain.” Hermann grabbed his cane and moved to grab Newt’s hand. 

Newt ripped his arm away and took a step to the side where he was out of reach. “Don’t.” He stared over Hermann’s shoulder and pressed every emotion he was feeling away so he could get through this without crying. “Do not touch me. I took some of my clothes. I’m staying with Tendo and Alison until they can get me my own room again. Then I’ll clear out the rest of my stuff.”

“Darling,” Hermann started.

“Do. Not.” His face was twisting into any shape that would hold back the tears. “Don’t.”

“I know you’re hurt, but,” Hermann started as Newt pulled his phone out of his pocket and plugged in his headphones. The volume was up and drowning everything out before Hermann could tell him how to feel about this. Newt didn’t care if Hermann had an open relationship with his wife because Newt hadn’t thought his relationship with Newt was open. 

He sat at his desk and focused on kaiju and the report. See, this is why he liked the kaiju. They never played around. They were there to kill people and they never pretended any different. They just came and killed. They were at least honest. 

Eventually Hermann gave up and went back to his side of the lab and Newt was able to make some real progress on his report. Well, he typed some stuff that might all need to be deleted tomorrow when his head was filled with slightly less cotton. 

A few hours later someone tapped on his shoulder and he ripped out his earbuds in preparation to yell at Hermann that no he wasn’t going to go to dinner with him because shit had changed but instead Alison was standing above him and smiling. “I know you, like, live in the lab but are you ready for dinner?” 

Newt looked at his report and saved it. Close enough. “Uh, yeah.” He saved it and closed down his computer. 

His glance at Hermann showed that he was watching them and biting his lip. Newt decided he didn’t care. He couldn’t care. He followed Alison out of the lab and started on the walk back up to the mess hall. “We’re thinking eat here and then go to the movies?” she said. “There’s that Final Destination reboot out. Slasher flicks are my go-to for this type of shit.” 

“Thanks, Allie,” Newt said.

“And once you get to the shit talking stage, I’m your girl. Tendo’s too nice for that shit,” she said with a laugh and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She was probably two inches taller than him even with his boots on. 

Newt smiled even if it felt wrong. “He is too nice.” 

In the mess Newt couldn’t get up an appetite but scooped a few things onto his plate just to make Alison happy and sat next to Tendo and across from Alison. Tendo told a story about one of the J-Techs who had been helping him recalibrate one of the sensors in Crimson Typhoon and ended up accidently switching the left and right controls and Tendo had spent the entire afternoon trying to figure out not only how he had done it but how to make sure it couldn’t happen again.

After dinner they went out to the movies and saw Final Destination and Newt ate more candy than was probably advisable. Neither Alison or Tendo said anything or even gave him a look. He hadn’t really touched his dinner, so they were probably relieved he ate at all. 

The three of them went back to the base afterwards and settled in for bed. Newt knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep so he waited until they fell asleep, plugged his headphones into his phone and watched old Netflix reality TV to keep his mind off of Hermann. 

It wasn’t the first night that they had slept apart, but it had been a while and Newt missed the shifting weight of someone else in bed. He missed the cold feet pressed to his calves and focused on the makeover show that was actively tearing the person on screen apart. Around three o’clock he drifted to sleep with his phone still playing something in his ears and he was still crying just a little.

All three of them woke to Tendo’s alarm because no matter how much he denied the amount of work he put into his Look, it was a Look and it took time. Tendo turned off the alarm and got out of bed to go to the bathroom, putting a hand on Newt’s shoulder as he went. “How’d you sleep?” he asked, though it came out a little sleep slurred. 

“Fine. Good. What time is it?”

“Six oh two,” Alison said, cracking her back. 

Newt forced himself to sit up in bed and slung his backpack over his shoulder and slipped his boots on, barely bothering to retie them. “I’m gonna head to the showers,” he said to Alison since Tendo was already in the bathroom.

“Okay.”. 

People could apply to live together in bunks like Tendo and Alison’s and like Newt and Hermann’s if there were two people living together. Most of the time the answer was no unless they were married. Newt and Hermann had been an exception because they were the only ones left in K-Sci and were working for almost nothing, so Pentecost had hooked them up with a married couple’s bunk. 

The rest of the ‘dome was either in individual rooms without bathrooms, or they were in dormitory style bunks. Luckily for Newt he was still early enough that the shower stalls were mostly empty, and he could use the one that he remembered to have been the best from before he moved in with Hermann. God, he was going to have to get used to showering in the stalls again. 

He showered, washed his hair and got redressed in a shirt that was wrinkled but would have to do and a pair of jeans that had a stain on the thigh that he couldn’t place. He had worn worse to the lab. 

He took his backpack with him to the lab so he could give Tendo and Alison some semblance of privacy and maybe he could get some real work done before Hermann got in. No matter what anyone said, Hermann worked at a schedule and he rarely deviated from that and it meant that the lab was empty until 9am. 

Usually. This morning a tall, thin, dark skinned woman, with curly hair hanging to her shoulders was sitting on the couch on her phone. “Do you need something?” Newt asked, coming up to the side of the couch to look at her. She smiled at him and stood up, with her hand out to shake. 

“Dr. Geiszler?” Her voice was warm with a British accent that lacked all the haughtiness that Hermann’s accent ran into sometimes. She was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans in a way that looked stylish and composed. 

He shook her hand but didn’t get rid of his confused look. “Call me Newt.”

“I’m Vanessa Gottlieb,” she said with a warm and genuine smile. 

All the air left the world and Newt wished a whole new Breach would open up right under his feet and pull him in. “Oh, uh. Hermann’s not usually in until…”

“I know when Hermann is due in. He’s in the mess with our son having breakfast. I’m here to talk to you.” She didn’t look mad but that seemed wrong, if she wanted to talk to him, she must know. 

“I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know.” He felt himself spinning out of control just at the thought of having to have this conversation. What was he even supposed to say? 

She kept smiling at him and sat back down, a little to the side to make room for him. “Please sit.” 

Newt sat. 

“I know you didn’t know. Now that I’ve met you, I’m not sure you would have ever done anything if you had known,” Vanessa said. 

“I wouldn’t have.” 

She nodded. “Oh, Newt.” Her sigh was sharp, and she took his hand. He wanted to pull back, but she looked too sincere, he couldn’t break that. “Our Hermann made a mistake not telling you.”

“Not my Hermann.”

“Yes, your Hermann. Even if you don’t want him right now. He said you didn’t allow him to explain, which I don’t blame you because what an absolute moron he’s been. I hope you’ll let me explain. You see, Hermann and I were technically married, until yesterday, I was here to sign the divorce papers.”

_Oh great. A literal homewrecker._

She squeezed his hand gently. “Hermann and I have been separated for close to eight years. Worrying over the paperwork seemed foolish when we were staring down the end of the world.” She laughed. 

Newt’s head was going to pop. It had officially been the worst and most confusing twenty-four hours of his life. “Tendo said the kid– “

“Newt’s six. If you meet him, he’ll tell you he’s six and a half or some more precise fraction he’s probably working on with Hermann right now,” she said with a laugh. “And as far as the timeline, which I can be almost certain is what you’re asking about, Hermann and I both wanted kids and it was easier than finding a donor or adopting.” 

“Newt?”

“Yes. I had hoped he’d be meeting his namesake this week, but Hermann’s thrown quite the wrench in that one, hasn’t he?” 

This got weirder the longer Vanessa talked. “I don’t know if I can. I didn’t even know you existed until Tendo told me.”

“I understand and I about killed Hermann when he told me that he had planned to tell you about the situation by introducing you to us at lunch. He just doesn’t think, sometimes. Not for lack of love.” She gave his hand one more squeeze then let go. 

“Why’d you two decide to do the paperwork?” Newt blurted. 

For the first time since the conversation began Vanessa hesitated. “Hermann asked me to.”

“Why?”

“Hermann is still my best friend, Newt. I can’t go spilling his secrets.”

“Did he knock up someone else?”

Vanessa laughed and Newt laughed with her. He hadn’t been sure it was a joke until she did. “I don’t think so. For what it’s worth, he’s pretty stuck on you.”

“Not worth much right now.”

Vanessa nodded and shrugged. “Will you at least walk me back to the mess hall? I had to ask three people for directions down here.”

Newt stood up from the couch. “Sure.” 

They had walked in silence for almost five minutes and were halfway to the mess when Newt turned to Vanessa and tried to break the weird silence that he kept building because how was he supposed to act? “I can’t believe you let him name your kid Newton. We weren’t even talking then…”

Vanessa laughed. “I had heard him talk about nothing but Newton this, Newton that for years before you two met and had your tiff. I was smitten with the name and your little spat wasn’t going to change that. The irony is that I let him choose Newt’s middle name and he picked William, my father’s name.” 

“Truly a disaster bi,” Newt said under his breath. 

“Aren’t we all?” 

Newt decided that he liked Vanessa and now that his own guilt had subsided a little, he felt like he was allowed to like her. With his guilt gone though, he didn’t have much to distract from the overwhelming sense of betrayal. How could Hermann have lied for so long? Did Hermann really think that introducing them over lunch would be that easy? Maybe Hermann really couldn’t understand why Newt would have been upset. Maybe Hermann didn’t love Newt as deeply as Newt loved him. 

When they got to the mess Newt stopped outside the door. “Will you come meet Newt?”

“Does he really care about the person he was named after?” 

“Yes. But only because he thinks we named him after an amphibian. Bastien thinks it’s hilarious to send him stuffed animals that are just various kinds of newt-looking animals.”

Newt took a deep breath and gave her a smile that probably wasn’t very convincing. “Okay.” He’d have to face Hermann sometime and this way he could see him and let him know he was chill with Vanessa and not chill with Hermann.

They walked in together and Vanessa was able to spot them in a second and led Newt over to where Hermann was sitting across from a little boy with curly hair and his father’s grin. “Hi, mum, who’s that?”

“This is Newton Geiszler. Newt.” 

“You’re real?” 

Newt cracked out laughing. “That’s what people keep telling me.”

Little Newt curled up his nose and frowned. “Great, I’m named after my dad’s boyfriend. Rather it be a real newt.”

“Newt,” Vanessa and Hermann both snapped at him. “Be polite,” Vanessa said. 

“I have a tattoo of an actual newt if that helps,” Newt said. 

“Really? But you have all the kaiju.” He waved at Newt’s arms.

Newt knelt down next to little Newt, took off his glasses and turned his head to the side, and folded his ear forward so that he could see the little red newt that was tattooed behind his ear. Little Newt started laughing. 

“Can I touch it?”

“Sure, just feels like normal skin,” Newt said and didn’t startle when two small fingers pushed on the side of his head. 

Adult Newt put his glasses back on and stood up. He didn’t look at Hermann too long but still caught the smitten look on his face. It twisted something painful in Newt’s chest. Newt the younger turned to his mom. “Can I get a tattoo of a newt behind my ear?”

Adult Newt laughed. Hermann choked on his tea while Vanessa tried to keep her composure to say no. “When you are eighteen you can get a tattoo of whatever you like. Until then, no.”

“But, Mum,” Little Newt whined. 

“I was twenty when I got this done,” Adult Newt said, which was a lie. He had been sixteen and had gotten it as soon as he had gotten a hold of a fake ID. There was no way that the ID had fooled anyone, but Newt supposed they didn’t really care as long as he paid. 

“Fine. As soon as I turn 18, I’m getting a tattoo of a newt behind my ear like Newt.”

Vanessa just nodded. “Fine. Are you two ready to go now?”

Newt stuffed another bite of pancakes in his mouth and nodded. Hermann nodded and stood up. “Yes. Would you like to come to the aquarium with us, Newton?”

Newt turned fully to Hermann for the first time and managed not to scream in frustration. “No.” He turned back to Vanessa and little Newt. “I’ll see you two around.” He managed to leave the mess without running and went back to the lab. 

Hermann was gone the whole day and Newt was able to get through some real work without having to push his headphones to the point of breaking. Around lunch time he got a text from Tendo say he had seen him in the mess with Hermann and was everything okay? Newt sent him a text back saying that somehow shit had gotten even more complicated than before. Tendo had sent back a frowning emoji. 

Instead of going to the mess for lunch Newt ate a power bar that was in the back of one of his drawers and had more coffee.

Every time he looked over at Hermann’s side of the lab something in him twisted. Even if Hermann hadn’t been cheating on him didn’t excuse the years of secrets. How did someone just leave out having a kid? A child, that from the bit Newt had witnessed, he loved. Did Newt not rate knowing about the kid? He wasn’t exactly father material, but he didn’t think he was the type of person you needed to hide a child from. And what about Vanessa? She was obviously still important in his life if even after the separation they were still on good enough terms to decide to have little Newt together. And she had come all the way to Hong Kong to bring the papers that could have been mailed just so Hermann could see their kid.

No matter how much Newt turned it over in his mind it still hurt like a punch in the gut. 

He spent the evening sitting on the bed next to Tendo, who listened patiently to him explain the situation as he understood it. Alison was out with friends that night, probably so that this conversation could happen. Even Tendo, who could forgive almost anything struggled with Hermann’s logic. 

“Maybe it just wasn’t ever the right time?”

Newt cocked his head to one side. “Do you have a secret child we should know about?” Newt asked. 

He threw his hands up in surrender. “Not one that I know about. But you two were like mortal enemies right up until you were dating.” 

“We were mortal enemies who were also best friends and spent 18 hours a day together,” Newt countered. “It wasn’t even that unexpected.”

“It was to everyone who wasn’t you two,” Tendo grumbled. Silence filled the room for a long time. “What’re you gonna do?”

Newt took a deep breath. “I don’t…know. I hate saying that.”

“Do you want to break up?”

“No.” Newt felt like suspiciously like he was pouting. 

“Then don’t,” Tendo said. “Talk it out. Make him buy you some flowers and a night on the town and call it good.”

“He didn’t forget my birthday, Tendo.”

Tendo wrapped his arm around Newt’s shoulders. “I know, man.”

* * *

The next morning Newt went into the lab early again but this time it was Hermann who was sitting on the couch. He stood up as soon as Newt walked in. “Newton.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you about Vanessa and Newt a long time ago.” He took a step forward but didn’t reach for Newt this time which Newt appreciated. He wasn’t sure what he would do if Hermann grabbed his hand today. His most confusing twenty-four hours was stretching into a confusing forty-eight. 

“No shit.” 

Hermann nodded once. “Will you allow me to explain?”

Newt laughed but it was bitter and broken. “There was a reason you decided to keep your wife and kid a secret from me? For years.”

Hermann blushed and looked at the ground before he set his expression and looked back to Newt. “Not a very good reason.” 

He thought about what Tendo had said the night before and the fact that he didn’t want to break up. “Fine.” Newt went around the corner of the couch and sat down. There were two thermoses on the coffee table that sat in front of the couch. Both of them were Hermann’s. One that was all chalkboard paint that Newt drew hearts on whenever it was out and he was alone, there were still hearts on it from the last time a few days before, even if they were a little smeared. The other was one Newt had brought back from a trip to LA. It had all the Mark-I Jaegers on it. Hermann never used it because he thought it was a little too egotistical to drink from something marked with his creations.

Hermann picked up the one with the jaegers and handed it to Newt. “I got you coffee.”

“Thanks.” Newt took a sip. “This is like real not-Shatterdome coffee.”

“Ah, yes. I went to the place with the bread rolls you like. I got some of the chocolate ones if you want one. I know you prefer the cinnamon ones, but they were already out.” Hermann looked more than a little frustrated that they had been out of the cinnamon bread that Newt liked with his coffee that Hermann always thought was too sweet. 

“Maybe later.”

Hermann smiled and nodded. “Of course. Vanessa said she explained about Newt and our separation.”

Newt nodded. “Yeah.”

“When you and I came to work together you still hated me and I felt quite similar. There was so much history between the two of us that every conversation between us was quite loaded, I think you will agree.” Newt didn’t do anything to show that he agreed but Hermann was right. It had been like juggling with grenades. “I have never, and will never, be ashamed of my son. He is truly a blessing that I love dearly but I was afraid that if you found out about him, his name specifically, you would never allow me to live it down. I already missed him dearly and the thought of you using him to mock me was too much for me to take.”

“You think I would have made fun of your kid?”

Hermann picked at his nails and looked at his lap. “No. I thought you would mock me for naming my child after someone who so clearly hated me.” 

“Hermann.”

“It feels foolish now after everything that we’ve been through together, but I was afraid, and I let that dictate my actions. And then time kept passing and you still didn’t know and when we entered into our relationship it felt too late.”

“So, you thought ‘I’ll spring this on him over lunch with no warning’?” Newt asked, doing his worst impression of Hermann just to annoy him.

Hermann smiled a little, biting his lip. “I have never been accused of having a deft touch with social interactions.”

“Anything would have been better than what you did.”

Hermann nodded. “Yes, I understand that now. I’m sorry, Newton. I never intended to hurt you.”

“You did.”

“I know. I’m hoping you’ll forgive me despite not deserving it.”

Newt took a deep breath and tried to put his thoughts in order. He didn’t want to break up with Hermann. He was still hurt and finding out that Hermann did it because he was too embarrassed of having named his kid after Newt to tell him certainly didn’t help. Was Newt really that much of a dick? Well, sometimes. “Why did you decide to divorce Vanessa officially?”

Hermann hesitated for a long second and looked over Newt’s shoulder as he said, “I cannot be married to two people at once.”

For a long while silence filled the lab as Newt stared at Hermann wide eyed and slack jawed. “You want to marry me?” 

“Yes. Quite desperately. Though I don’t have any desire to pressure you into something you don’t want.”

Defiantly the weirdest forty-eight hours of Newt’s life. “Holy shit. Are you sure?” 

Hermann sighed but he was smiling at Newt. “Of course, I’m sure. I know you’re upset with me, still, but I hope you know that despite my own faults I love you wholly and completely. I cannot imagine my life without you. I acted foolishly not because I thought you were anything less than perfect but because I simply didn’t know how to act in the situation that _I_ had put us in.”

Newt felt tears start to prick at the back of his eyes again. He reached across and took Hermann’s hand and saw the tension bleed out of Hermann’s shoulders. “Okay.”

“What?”

“I’ll marry you.”

Hermann’s eyes got watery almost as soon as the words were out of Newt’s mouth. “Oh darling. Are you quite sure? It’s been quite a stressful few days.”

“Hermann, I’ve wanted to marry you for like ten years. You’re barely catching up.” Newt laughed and leaned forward to kiss his boyfriend. His fiancé.

When he pulled back tears were running down Hermann’s face. “I was so frightened that you’d never forgive me.”

Newt rested his forehead on Hermann’s. “I haven’t yet. I’m expecting a really nice wedding to make this all up to me.”

“You can be as big of a groomzilla you want, darling.”

“Does that mean we can have a Godzilla themed wedding?”

Hermann gave a watery laugh. “Anything you want, my love. Anything.” He kissed Newt again. Things weren’t perfect but they were better.

**Author's Note:**

> There is more to come...


End file.
